Posts Tagged ‘ebook’

Natalie Babbit has written an eventual classic, which to me stand for something. Often nowadays, people will label something as an instant classic, which I am afraid is used too loosely and to broad. In fact, I think that instant classic, in itself is an oxymoron. To be a classic, the thing pointed to must stand the test of time.

The wonderful and relatively short-story (although it isn’t labelled a formal short story) there are so many things that Natalie Babbit does to get a foot into the door of your mind. Winifred, Milo, Jesse and the Tuck’s along with the man in the yellow suit pose not just an engaging story of discovery and fantasy, but moreso of ideals as far as ethics, virtues and abilities.

Questions like:

Should anybody live in this life forever?

When is it okay to push the limits of parental control?

When do we trust others?

Are there times when the “law of the land” doesn’t impose fairness and what can you do about it?

In Tuck Everlasting, tens and hundreds of questions are posed in the minds of the ready to determine where the footing of the reader is. Where do you stand when considering the right and wrong of the given situation.

Clearly, the the story of Winifred, it isn’t difficult to understand where she views and does what she does, dispite the gray area she may drift into in making good moral decisions. This book, though simple and great for young readers as well as adults, should penetrate deeper into the considerations of the mind.

The crowning lesson for me personally is that life is intended to be temporary and because of that, life can be rich and valued – even in the good or bad times. Life does end (this life) and your legacy can enrich those who will be bequithed your influence.

Watch the movie too – a bit different in the exact following of the book’s reading, but the story is told from end to end.

Strolling through B&N this week I came across a book about the major Ponzi scheming events of recent with the largest scam ever in the 65+ billion dollar thievery.

Madoff Arrested

Wow, all I can say is that the first two books are out and there will be several more as the months pass and as the stretching impact. I sat down and starting reading the more credible of the two books, To Good To Be True. Since this is an extreme “precursor” to the book itself, I think because most people will find that they are impacted by or know somebody personal who has been impacted by Bernie Madoff’s trickery and unparalleled theft it is worth mentioning.

In just the first 50 pages or so (which I read while in the store and plan on buying the book in the coming days) I found two major things that I think are worth mentioning. First, Bernie plead guilty, which for most of us think is a great thing, an admittance of wrong doing. To the victims, this was a slap in the face, since this is the point that Madoff was going to make, that nobody else was involved and that he wasn’t going to cooperate with finding out all of the detail and involvement in the scam

Second, we find that Madoff had a close and influential relationship with the SEC. This will lead to why he wasn’t investigated fully, when well warned a decade before the arrest, which could have saved millions, if not billions of dollars for investors.

Noeleen G. Walder of the New York Law Journal recently posted and updated to the happening of the Bernard Madoff case, specifically regarding the work that Irving H. Picard of Baker & Hostetler has been performing in the effort to recoup investor funds.

Although there has been much infighting to who is deserving of how much of the recovered funds, the report is that $1.5 billion in assets has been gathered. See law.com’s report here.

As significant as the $1.5 billion is assets is, when considering the overall Bernie Madoff fraud via ponzi in the $60 to $70 billion, we are talking about 2.1 to 2.5 percent of the overall take. This does not account for how much of that $1.5 billion will be assessed to fees and costs associated with the recovery itself. The investors may be looking at a 2 percent return, however the likelihood of it dropping below that mark is high.

The infighting for who deserves how much really becomes a true cause for concern and although the officials involved with do their best to be fair, the wise and resourceful investor will seek to be held and to make an early claim on the recovered funds, with the consideration that their entitlement is arguably better or more necessary than others’ claims.

others. In total Irving Picard believes about $30 million has been spread through these ventures, which are believed to give some beneficial interest to Madoff family members.

Among those being sued for this $30 million are Bernie’s wife, Ruth, sons Andrew and Mark, brother Peter and niece Shana. Let’s see, after and over the decades of fraud, do any of these parties who ever due or received money from any

Irving Picard

Madoff company, can they really think that they have a leg to stand on. The sons are contesting the suit via their attorney and it would be surprising if the others don’t.

I am sure all of the world that is falling apart, as they knew it, is only getting worse and should end with the inevitable of facing a 40-hour a week gig with some garnishment hanging over their head, although some of that will be lost to the attorney fees they will pay to keep from form such a judgment.

Good luck Picard – get it all – we are cheering, whether you care or not.

UPDATE: November 10, 2010,

And now OWN a piece of MADOFF. The auction of items from two of his homes puts a historic possession in your hands. Take a piano and burn it, grab a desk and smash it, frame his embroidered slippers like a Capone tommy gun – whatever. The next step is getting money due the investors of the worlds largest ponzi scheme

The string of arrests continues and will continue as the FBI, SEC and other organizations continue to comb through decades of information and draw connections to what should and is expected to be a rather sophisticated infrastructure. For a successful and long as the scheme was, Madoff’s guilty plea cannot keep all responsibility to the crime. Although there have only been five arrests now made, in addition to Bernie Madoff himself, time should deliver a more complete result . . . meaning more criminals who knew and did nothing to stop the crime.

Overnight Joann Crupi and Annette Bongiorno were arrested by the FBI in connection to the Ponzi scheme. One was living in New Jersey at the time of the arrest and the latter in Florida.

We will watch the slow churn continue.

Resource: New York Times, 2 Former Madoff Aides Are Arrested (see article here)

UPDATE: January 13, 2011

PAYDAY!!! At least $7.2 billion, yes with a “b”. As the recovery of the largest cash turnover in US history is handed to Irving Picard, a bankruptcy judge approved the distribution of those funds among the victims of the unparalleled scheme.

The money was relinquished by the widow of Jeffry Picower, who had invested $619 million and withdrew over $7 billion since the 1970’s. Although Mrs. Picower continues to hold to her stance that her husband knew nothing of the fraud taking place, the “interest” earned was so high that it says otherwise.

Finally some relief for the general population of victims.

Irving Picard has also pursued many others who withdrew more than they invested during the operations of Madoff’s ponzi plan.

I recall seeing this book on the bookshelf at a Borders and thought, “yeah right, who is gonna fall for that?” I, of course, didn’t buy the book and didn’t even consider it, the title was way to unrealistic and far beyond achieving, except for some heir to a fortune, which I am not. I don’t know what book I bought that day, but I am sure it was some educational, “how-to”, mechanical book on climbing the ranks or mustering the courage to be just different enough to leave the dungeon of corporate expectation and take a chance in order to climb the ranks.

Holy cow, was I wrong. A close friend MONTHS later said he picked up this book and read it and found Tim Ferriss to be a fascinating personality, presenting a concept that is not far fetched and in fact is rather logical in so many ways. The premise being that we all think that there is a magic number out there that we need to get to in order to say, “Yes, I have made it, I can now do nothing for the rest of my days.” Mr. Ferriss says that this very common approach is a gross indication of a strong desire to be lazy, not to live the life you wish to live.

Living the life you dream about and say “wouldn’t it be nice” or try to image what that thing/place/freedom/etc would feel like is what Mr. Ferriss calls Lifestyle Design or basically, creating the circumstances that all you to be, do and go where whatever you want. It isn’t the million bucks that you want, it is what the million bucks will do for you that you want; and in most cases, you don’t really need a million bucks to achieve what you really want.

Don’t be the “fat man in the red BMW”. The concept of the corporate employee who is climbing the ranks, who buys the fancy BMW because it is the cool new car (not necessarily the car he wants) and ends up fat because he spends his 80 hours a week at work and only drives the fancy car to and from work. This indicator has been adopted by my friend and I in order to remind each other where we want to go (in life) and how we want to live it.

That is truely the basis of Mr. Ferriss’s work – Living the life that you would like to live. What kind of time freedom are you looking for and what lifestyle do you want to maintain in order to achieve that freedom (essentially, how much money, if you break it down to the penny, do you need to earn in order to get there). Consider how little you would have to do; the least amount of time and effort to establish that lifestyle. This isn’t a substitute for being lazy, in fact this is just the opposite. The Lifestyle Design of the New Rich (NR) is to free up your time from doing the things you don’t want to do, so you can spend the maximum amount of your time doing what you want to do.

ebookwisdom.com

Always Exploring

I have personally adopting a new approach to my current “job” and how I spend my time there in order to get to where I want to go with my time and money. I see things changing and hope to publish a case study for Mr. Ferriss when the day arrives.